I bought my first cactus and succulent combination nine years ago. I was shopping in a ridiculously niche grocery store for work — right out of the pages of a magazine, the type we use to describe millennials. Jalapeño jam, miso cookies, and dukkah were placed at eye level, as if they were pantry necessities. The cacti were planted in a wide and rough cement bowl, with tiny black rocks on the surface. The tough stems peeked out hopefully, a fresh sight in my Canadian grocery; humorous, almost.
In the center of my round kitchen table they went, reminding me every time I walked into the room: You are a plant owner. You are outrageously mature. If this doesn’t mean you have your act together, what does?
Within a week, it was dead. My black thumb proved record-breaking in its efficacy: I managed to snuff out a plant that survives in the desert.
This issue focuses on beautifying your outdoors, but also on making your indoors feel as bright and airy as the outdoors. Accomplishing this takes shape in a multitude of ways for each of us: maybe it’s having tile grout so clean it looks like install day; or maybe it’s when your glass railing is devoid of fingerprints; or maybe you’re like me: a fantasy for sure, but it’s when your kitchen counters have nothing, and I mean nothing, on them. Sometimes feeling that renewed atmosphere means you’re literally learning more about plant care, vegetation scattered around the house — and maybe together we’ll learn how to actually keep those plants alive.
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